Sunday, April 7, 2013

Another clue to the Mystery of Lee

When you have a true mutt, you always are thinking "I wonder what she is" and looking for clues.  Perhaps this is because the answer to "What kind of dog do you have?"  is "mutt" and that doesn't sound so nice! Zaphod is clearly not 100% Shepherd, but is enough that I can say Shepherd mix, so I don't think about it as much as Hailey. Hailey is truly a mystery mutt.

I think every breed of dog has been suggested for her over the 2.5 years she has lived with us. Most people who meet her want to try and figure her out.  While we have considered DNA testing, we have decided against it because of the cost and the fact that only 75-100 breeds DNA is tested, which could still leave us wondering. Besides, we like having a little mystery in our lives!

We got another clue a few weeks ago thanks to our friend Loki the Dober Dog. He too is a mystery mutt and his Lady is trying to solve this mystery. In her search she came across the Australian Kelpie. This dog looks so much like Loki, but a couple of pictures made me think of Hailey.



Then I saw this one and I thought - That is my Lee. Similar colours, body shape etc.

Google Picture of a Kelpie. Lee has the same white patch on her chest.




Hailey the Kelpie??????
My brief reading about this bread shows they can be a huge variety of colours, including black like Hailey. She is about the right size. She has the right type of coat. She is definitely a herding dog and has LOTS of energy. She has amazing eye sight and does like to nip ankles when playing. The physical evidence does suggest she may be part Kelpie.

However, one mystery remains - how did my herding dog get webbed feet? Kelpies do not have this trait. Or at least it was not listed in the things I read.

My guess is now she is a Kelpie (or another type of cattle dog) with some sort of dog with webbed feet (like a lab or shepherd. Given that she is drawn so much to shepherds I wonder if that is it).

The mystery will continue!




8 comments:

  1. Yea a cattle dog, especially if she goes for ankles, like me a Collie, I use to do that. What ever you are Lee, you are a cute Mutt..Bawahhaaaa xx00xxx

    Mollie and Alfie

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  2. Well one thing for sure is she is beautiful, full of love and life and most of all she is your sister
    hugs Madi your BFFF

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  3. Agree with the above, she's family and that's all that matters xx

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  4. Lee looks a lot like a Kelpie/Shepherd mix! I wouldn't waste the money on a DNA test either, some of the answers I've seen are so weird.

    We get questions about our 2 all the time, right now they're either Giant Jack Russells, Giant Puerto Rican Chihuahuas, New England House Dogs or Pibble Hounds. :)

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  5. I think my rescue mutt is a kelpie too. But she has webbed feet too and loves the water. Very high energy and needs to get tons of exercise. Mine looks total kelpie except the ears are not up. I worry about the retinal atrophy, so I think I need a DNA test...your page is precious. Thanks for sharing. I want to post a pic, not sure how....

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  6. There are a lot of reasons why dogs develop webbed feet. One of which is the genes and how the breed has been developed. There is also higher incidence of the abnormal webbing of feet specifically to some breeds. I learned a lot from this article and I would like to share it here: http://dogsaholic.com/care/dogs-with-webbed-feet.html

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